Thunderbirds finish fourth overall
By David Pan
Enterprise sports editor
FEDERAL WAY
Shorewood had plenty to celebrate at the Class 4A state boys swimming and diving championships.
Junior Bryan Michaels brought home a state title in the 500-yard freestyle and also helped the Thunderbirds to a fourth-place finish in the team competition Feb. 16 at the King County Aquatic Center.
Michaels took the lead early in the 500 freestyle and built on it during every leg of the race. He finished with an automatic All-American time of 4 minutes, 35.20 seconds, well ahead of Gig Harbor’s Spencer Neff, who was second in 4:40.40.
“It feels good,” Michaels said of winning his first state title. “It went according to plan.”
Michael’s time was a little off from his career best, but it was his best time of the season.
“I’m happy with that,” Michaels said.
The Shorewood junior was seeded first in the event and swam the fastest preliminary time (4:38.31).
“I don’t know if there was any doubt that he’d be getting that,” said Shorewood coach Scott Kelley. “That was pretty neat that he came in first, held it and did what he wanted to do. It was an All-American time too.”
Michaels went out fast and completed the first 200 yards in 1:46, Kelley added. “That’s a pretty good 200 free time. He held every 100 under 57 seconds. It’s pretty sweet.”
Michaels also took second place in the 200 freestyle with an All-American consideration time of 1:43.17, which also was a personal best. Cascade’s Sean Nesheim, won in 1:41.17.
“I was going for first in that 200 freestyle, but Sean came out there and he had a great time,” Michaels said. “I’m not disappointed with second place. … I’ve known Sean for a long time. I knew he was going to come out and do a really good time in that 200 free.”
This was Michaels’ first season on the high school team. He wanted to join the squad his first two years of high school, but his commitments to his club team, West Coast Aquatics, precluded him from pursuing high school swimming.
“The schedule just didn’t work out and this year it did,” Michaels said. “So I took the chance to be a part of high school swimming and I’m definitely coming back next year.”
Shorewood went into the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, ahead of Richland 117-116, so the team that finished ahead of the other would go on to claim third place.
The Bombers prevailed over the Thunderbirds. Richland tied for third in the race with Kamiak in 3:18.03, while the Thunderbirds were sixth in 3:18.36.
“We were within reach of third,” Kelley said. “We just couldn’t pull it out in the end. We swam well enough.”
The fourth-place finish is Shorewood’s best since 1998, when the Thunderbirds took second.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been up here,” Kelley added.
Snohomish won the team championship with a score of 247. Kamiak took second (187) and Richard was third (147). Shorewood finished fourth (143).
“We were a great team this year,” Michaels said. “The Wesco is just crazy competitive this year. We went 1-2-4 at state and it was almost 1-2-3. I’m not disappointed in the way we performed.”
Senior Max Vincent took fifth place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.20. He came in seeded fifth (22.25) but then proceeded to swim a 22.00 in the prelims and was tied with eventual winner Jake Kaija of Wilson for the top seed in the finals.
“He was fighting a little bit of a bug today,” Kelley said. “He swam just out of his mind yesterday, so he was a little disappointed. But fifth is better than I think he was hoping to do this year, so he’s pretty happy with it.”
Vincent’s name was reported in the results and daily newspapers as “Whale Vincent” because his teammates call him Max-whale. “Whale Vincent” was on the entries at districts and it continued at the state meeet.
Freshman Mackey Hopen placed 11th in the 50 freestyle in 22.54.
“There are a lot of seniors in that 50 freestyle,” Kelley said. “So he’s looking good for next year. … He doesn’t swim year-round or anything. This was the first year he’s gotten to do a full program.”
Junior Tim Tan took 11th in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.23 and was 13th in the 100 butterfly in 54.79. Senior Chris Lewis finished 15th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.78.
Shorewood’s three relays all advanced to the finals. The 400 freestyle relay team of Tan, Vincent, Hopen and Michaels dropped a second and a half from its time in the prelims. The 200 medley relay squad of Michaels, Eric Joy, Hopen and Vincent took seventh in 1:44.10 and the 200 freestyle relay team of Vincent, Hopen, Tan and Maxwell DeMeritt also took seventh in 1:30.95. Both relays bettered their prelim times.
“We had a great meet,” Kelley said. “I’m really proud of the guys.”
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